3rd Test – South Africa vs India – Fantasy Preview

The most anticipating test series of India tour of South Africa nearing the end as the 3rd and last test match starts in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The home team South Africa survived in both of first two tests and leading the series 2-0. The no. 1 test team in the world, Team India put some fight in both matches but those were not enough for them to succeed. What will happen in next 5 days when these two meets one last time in the series? The 3rd test match between South Africa vs India schedule to start at 10 AM Local | 1:30 PM IST on Wednesday, 24th January 2018.

SOUTH AFRICA :

The heroics of debutant pacer Lungi Ngidi in the second innings of second test assured an unbeatable lead of 2-0 for South Africa and now the home side has an opportunity to seal the series with clean sweep against the No. 1 test side India. The experienced AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis contributed with crucial knocks once again which kept South Africa on dominating side. As South Africa had well balanced side in the second test, they are expecting to play with an unchanged XI at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram came back good in the last test after those failures in the first match. Elgar played a crucial knock along with AB de Villiers which brought in South Africa into the game again on 3rd day of a second test. Markram missed his century by short of 6 runs in the first innings of second test. The man who called as the future of South Africa cricket, expecting to play much deep knocks in this final test. After two consecutive failures in the first test, the classic Hashim Amla had scored 82 runs in the first innings of last test but he again gone back to single-digit score in the second innings. Amla used to play so good at Wanderers across the format, so we can expect a big scores from him in this game. AB de Villiers who was the major reason for South Africa’s success in Cape Town two weeks ago, played another match saving knock in the second innings of Centurion test last week. He scored only 20 runs in the first innings but his knock of 80 runs in the second innings defined a match for his team. He yet to score big hundred in the tournament, hopefully will convert those 80 odd runs to ton in this test.

Skipper Faf du Plessis hold his patience in both innings of second test and scored 63 and 48 runs respectively. He spent most of the time with tailenders in both innings and added valuable runs for the team. Faf has a role to play once again in this last test of the series. The wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock’s poor form is the big worrying part for South Africa as of now. He scored 42 runs in the first innings of 1st test, after that he managed to score only 20 runs in last three innings. As there is no other back-up wicket keeper in the squad, De Kock will keep his place in the XI. As South Africa settles with top 6, Theunis de Bruyn will warm the bench once again. The well experienced Morne Morkel had taken a tally of 8 wickets in 4 innings, including 4-wickets haul in the 1st innings of 2nd test. After picked a match tally of 9 wickets in the 1st test, bowling allrounder Vernon Philander had a chance to claim only a wicket in the last test. He also had some bad outings with a bat too. Philander is one of the key bowler in the squad and no wonder if he takes 5 wickets haul once again. The black Africans pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi had shared all wickets of India’s 2nd innings in the last match. The bowling sensation Rabada has a tally 9 wickets with two three-wickets haul in those tests. His batting skills would be a key at lower-order batting as well. Lungi Ngidi who replaced injured Dale Steyn and made his test debut, rocked with a maiden 6-fer in the second innings of his debut match. His impressive show assures his place in the XI in Johannesburg. That means Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Duanne Olivier has to conclude the series by watching the match from dressing room.

INDIA :

The batting failures caused the matches for Team India on the tour. After dominating season of 1 and half years in sub-continent, the No. 1 ranked test team faces all the troubles in South Africa. Bowlers had done their job well by claiming 20 wickets in both matches, but the batting failures kept India away from wins. The first-choice opener Murali Vijay had played a good innings in the 1st innings of 2nd test and scored 46 runs. In rest other innings, he managed to score a total of 23 runs. Vijay should come with the way he played in recent times at home and in need to score match saving century in this test. KL Rahul who came into the XI after lots of debate, able to contribute only with 14 runs in that last test. As everyone has a faith in Rahul, he might get a place in the side ahead of Shikhar Dhawan. Two run-outs in same test was Cheteshwar Pujara’s latest rare achievement. The dominating batsman at no. 3 at home, fails continuously in overseas. As the vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane likely to be in the XI for this match, Pujara’s place is in jeopardy. If India looks to play with both Rahane and Rohit Sharma, then Pujara could make a way for Rahane.

Captain Virat Kohli’s 153 runs knock in the first innings was the only notable thing happened in India’s batting performances. He had played a captain’s knock but as others couldn’t support him, those efforts gone in vein. Parthiv Patel took care of wicket-keeper’s duty in the last match. But as Dinesh Karthik added to the squad for this test, he has a bright opportunity to make his return to test XI for the first time in 8 long years. The off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had claimed 2 wickets in the first test and 5 in a second. He did a better job with bat and contributed with a total of 90 runs in 4 innings. He may play much better role with both bat and bowl in this match. The savior of Indian team in the first test, all-rounder Hardik Pandya didn’t offer much with neither bat or bowl in the last test. He remained wicket-less in both innings and also scored only 21 runs in 2 innings of second test. India need him to perform with both bat and bowl, if that happens you will earn lot of fantasy points from him. The omission of Bhuvneshwar Kumar caused in a big way in Centurion, so Bhuvi might make his return to the XI. The experiences of Ishant and Shami in test cricket will come into discussion, which means Bumrah has a slight chances of sitting in bench for this test. If Bumrah continue in the XI, then Shami may make a way for Bhuvi.

Cricket is what everyone loves. If you’re ready to play fantasy cricket but don’t know how to analyze players, consider his Articles as the foundation of your fantasy teams. Anand is a cricket blogger and fantasy cricket lover.

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